


Under the covers, we’ll be safe from the world

by merle_p



Category: Glee
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Pre-Slash, Reading Aloud
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-10
Updated: 2010-06-10
Packaged: 2017-11-10 04:13:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/462088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merle_p/pseuds/merle_p
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt can’t sleep. Finn doesn’t want to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Under the covers, we’ll be safe from the world

**Author's Note:**

  * For [_harmlessthings](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=_harmlessthings).



> Prompt was: _Glee, Finn/Kurt, books_
> 
>  **Spoilers:** For the episode _Theatricality_ and the novel _The Lovely Bones_ by Alice Sebold  
>  **Disclaimer:** _Glee_ belongs to FOX. _The Lovely Bones_ belongs to Alice Sebold

Finn jerks awake in the middle of the night, waking from a strange dream about chili cheese fries, vampires and Vocal Adrenaline. He vaguely remembers Principal Figgins and Coach Tanaka getting gay married and adopting Kurt at some point, but that’s not something he wants to contemplate too closely. 

He also ignores the voice in his head telling him that Kurt would probably say that it’s his subconscious giving him these dreams, which proves that part of him apparently _wanted_ to think about it. Because even Kurt would probably agree that no one in their right mind would want to think about Figgins and the Coach getting it on.

Speaking of Kurt: There is a light coming from his side of the room, and when Finn strains his neck, he can see the other boy lying on his belly, propped up on his elbows, reading a book.

“Hey,” he whispers, not quite sure why he’s trying to stay quiet. “Are you awake?”

Kurt startles at the sound of his voice and squints in Finn’s direction. “What was your first clue?” he finally asks. “The light or the fact that I’m reading?”

Finn knows Kurt well enough by now to know when he’s being sarcastic, even if he doesn’t always get the joke. 

“Why aren’t you sleeping?” he asks, remembering the many times Kurt has told him that he needs at least seven hours of beauty sleep. 

Kurt sighs and closes the book. “I can’t,” he says, after a moment of silence. “It’s weird, sleeping in a room with someone else. I’m not used to it.”

“Oh,” Finn makes, surprised. The thought hasn’t even crossed his mind. He sleeps just as well in Kurt’s basement room as he did in his old bed. “But I thought you and Mercedes and Tina had sleepovers all the time.”

“That’s – different,” Kurt says, and Finn doesn’t have to ask why. There’s a pause, not quite awkward, and then Kurt says: “Also, they don’t snore.”

Finn throws a pillow at Kurt’s head and smiles when he hears Kurt’s squeak turn into a chuckle. Things have been better between them since the incident with the shower curtain, but there are days when Finn still isn’t sure where they stand.

“What are you reading?” he asks, finding that he actually wants to know. 

Kurt just lifts the book in response for Finn to see.

“The Lovely Bones,” Finn reads with some effort, squinting his eyes, and worries that his mother may be right, after all: maybe he really needs glasses. “What is it about?”

Kurt is quiet for a while. “It’s about a girl that is raped and murdered when she’s 14. But she doesn’t really move on after her death, instead she watches her family and her friends from heaven, sees how they deal with her death.”

“That sounds …” _weird_ , Finn wants to say, but he thinks of Kurt’s mom, and his own father, and what comes out of his mouth is: “… interesting. Is it good?”

“It’s sad,” Kurt says, “but yes, it’s good.”

“Can you read it to me?” Finn hears himself asking, and Kurt looks at him in surprise.

“Don’t you want to try and get more sleep?” 

“Nah,” Finn says, “I don’t think I could anyway.”

“Oh,” Kurt says. “Okay.” 

Finn hears the crackling of paper, and then Kurt’s voice, steady and soft: “ _My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Suzie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973._ ”

Finn shivers. Kurt suddenly seems very far away. “Kurt?” he says shyly, and the boy looks at him. 

“Do you want me to stop?”

“No,” Finn says. “Just – it’s kind of hard to hear you from over here. Do you – I mean, you could come closer.”

“What, to your bed?” Kurt asks. His voice sounds breathless, and almost scared.

“Yes,” Finn says, and wonders distantly what he’s doing.

“Are you sure?” Kurt asks hesitantly. Finn nods.

Kurt’s bare feet are a soft tap-tap against the floor when he crosses the room. He looks timid and young, standing at Finn’s bedside, the book pressed protectively against his chest. Something in Finn’s stomach tightens at the sight, and he quickly lifts up the covers for Kurt to climb in. 

Kurt obeys, trying to get comfortable without touching Finn too much, until Finn just wraps an arm around Kurt’s shoulders and pulls him in. 

Kurt freezes for a moment and then relaxes, and finally, he opens the book and reads:

“ _In newspaper photos of missing girls from the seventies, most looked like me …_ ”

 

In the morning, Burt and Carole find them like that: tangled together in Finn’s sheets, Finn’s arm still around Kurt’s body, Kurt curled up against Finn’s chest. 

The book forgotten on the floor.


End file.
